Mike - NJ.com fan blogger

About Me:

Mike jumped on the Yankees bandwagon during the glory years that were the late '80s, and has fond memories of attending games with freedom to roam throughout an often mostly empty Yankee Stadium. He has a great love for the game and its history and always welcomes conversations comparing players across eras and discussing Hall of Fame worthiness (don't get him started on Bert Blyleven). Mike approaches the game with a belief that there is value and room for both traditional observation and modern statistical analysis and that each can be used to augment the other (though he remains skeptical of most fielding metrics). Mike's favorite baseball book is Jim Bouton's Ball Four and believes all baseball fans should read it at least once.
Mike can be reached at POTYmike@yahoo.com.

I must be rusty at this blogging thing, because before I posted, I failed to look at how the Yankees OBP stacks up against the league. While on the surface, the Yankees team .336 OBP looks pretty mediocre, it's actually second best in the AL, just .003 behind the Rangers, and 15 points higher than the .321 league average. This is probably a sign of how radically the game has shifted to pitching and defense in the last few years, as just five years ago, the Yankees led the league with a team .366 OBP, while the league average that year was .338. So this means that the best team at getting on base this year, is doing so at a rate that would have only qualified as average a few years ago.

Prof, I'm not too worried about the pitching. Other potential postseason opponents may have better starting pitching (notably the Angels), but I think among Sabathia (120 ERA+), Kuroda (131 ERA+), Hughes (105 ERA+ and greatly improved the last two months), and a healthy Pettitte (134 ERA+ before injury), the Yankees have enough to keep the team in games. The team will also go with a shorter bullpen in the postseason, and while it's sometimes bumpy, I feel pretty good with Phelps, Robertson, and Soriano anchoring the pen.

Steve, I get what you're saying about Girardi, but I also think any manager would naturally be hamstrung by the makeup of the team. When you have a team laden with expensive veterans, I think it removes much of the gamesmanship for a manager because the manager has to pencil all those expensive veterans in and hope they come through.

Mick, I agree that Yankee fans often lack perspective, but that's probably true to some degree of all fan bases. I'm not one to panic because the season is long, but I do strongly feel that the terrible OBP for most of the team, may well doom the team in the playoffs, particularly given the higher quality of pitching in the playoffs. Low OBPs are symptomatic of much greater problems with respect to reliable production.

Great comment Toxic Lemonade. Rodriguez is clearly not the player he once was, but he's still among the three or four most productive 3Bmen in the AL and remains a presence in the middle of the Yankees lineup that makes opposing pitchers work. Eric Chavez is a nice veteran to have on the bench, but he's not a viable everyday option at this point in his career.

What this injury most exposes for me is how thin the Yankees organization is with positional player talent. There's a couple of catchers, but that's it. There's no youthful safety net to back up what is a pretty old team, and should make one wonder what the team's long-term plan is.

Steve, you're absolutely right about A-Rod. He's clearly a diminished player from what he once was, but as I believe Joel Sherman pointed out this morning, he still has the third highest OPS of all AL 3Bmen. A-Rod was still a presence in the middle of the lineup that made pitchers work. Chavez is a great veteran guy to have on the bench, but he isn't a viable everyday option at this point in his career.

Which brings me to my next point - the Yankees farm system is pretty barren when it comes to position player depth. There's some pitching, and there's the two catching prospects, but that's it. For a team that's pretty old, the lack of a young safety net is very disconcerting. I suppose there were high hopes for Brandon Laird a couple of years back that he'd be ready to step in at this point, but he's fizzled.

Professor, as you may have noticed, I've been MIA for most of the season, so that's why I haven't seen your Martin comments. My comment was really more directed to the media generally as there's been little if any discussion by the media as to how awful Martin has been. I'm guessing/hoping the team is waiting for Romine to get healthy.

They say pitching wins championships - well opposing postseason pitchers won't have much to fear from nearly 50% of the Yankees lineup. To have four players with OBPs at .300 or below is atrocious and not indicative of championship quality championship ball.

Also, why has there been so little talk about how awful Russell Martin has been? I don't see how the Yankees can keep trotting him out there everyday batting .181 with a 74 OPS+. His defense and "intangibles" as a catcher can't compensate for being a virtual out every time up.

This smacks of a move for the sake of making a move, going for the big name rather than common sense - I thought the Yankees in the post-George era had moved past such deals. Sure, Ichiro is an exciting name, but he's simply just not a good player at this point in his career. My fear is that given his name and his contract, the Yankees are going to play him often, and perhaps bat him at or the near the top of the lineup, and they'll do so to the team's detriment. Ichiro's OBP this year is a terrible .288, which means he's an out machine and isn't getting on base nearly enough to make good use of what speed he has left. He also has little power and doesn't even hit for average any more as he's hitting .261 this year after hitting .272 last season. His OPS+ is just 83, following-up on a poor terrible 86 from last year. A team just can't tolerate such putrid production from any position, but especially from a corner OF position. Defensively, he's also not close to what he was.

Ichiro was a great player, but right now, he may be the worst everyday player in baseball.

This smacks of a move for the sake of making a move, going for the big name rather than common sense - I thought the Yankees in the post-George era had moved past such deals. Sure, Ichiro is an exciting name, but he's simply just not a good player at this point in his career. My fear is that given his name and his contract, the Yankees are going to play him often, and perhaps bat him at or the near the top of the lineup, and they'll do so to the team's detriment. Ichiro's OBP this year is a terrible .288, which means he's an out machine and isn't getting on base nearly enough to make good use of what speed he has left. He also has little power and doesn't even hit for average any more as he's hitting .261 this year after hitting .272 last season. His OPS+ is just 83, following-up on a poor terrible 86 from last year. A team just can't tolerate such putrid production from any position, but especially from a corner OF position. Defensively, he's also not close to what he was.

Ichiro was a great player, but right now, he may be the worst everyday player in baseball.

Jeter's error in the sixth was the big one. That was a great double play opportunity, and if made, it would have been 2 outs with no one on and the Yankees up 3-2, instead of no outs and 2 men on. Big difference in situation.

I think it's too early to take anything away from Darvish. He was impressive against the Yankees, but then again, the Yankees have a history of struggling against unfamiliar pitchers, even minor league journeymen. If anything, I think Darvish's start, though a very small sample, is very similar to Matsuzaka's a few years ago. The ERA and K totals look good, but behind it there's an ugly WHIP, fueled by high walk totals. It means that Darvish, like Matsuzaka, is putting too many runners on base, and if that isn't corrected, it will catch up to him eventually just as it caught up to Matsuzaka.

Until a supposedly "ace" Japanese starter can come over here and show some long-term consistency and durability, all teams should be hesitant to spend big money. With respect to last night, I wouldn't read too much into it. The Yankees historically have trouble the first time they face new pitchers, even minor league journeymen, and though the sample size is very small, Darvish's numbers so far look very reminiscent of Matsuzaka's - good ERA, but high WHIP (and a high walk total in particular), which shows that he's putting runners on base and laboring, and that's something that will likely catch up to him if not addressed (it caught up to Matsuzaka).

I know I've been MIA, but had to post that while I initially liked the Pineda deal, the more I thought about, the more I wondered why the Mariners would trade such a promising 23 year old starter that would have been under the Mariners control for year. The adage is that the hardest thing to find is starting pitching. With these setbacks, coupled with his struggles in the second half last year, I'm starting to think that the Mariners knew something the Yankees didn't about Pineda that made them feel comfortable giving him. Pineda is still very young and he could go on to be great for 15 years and these few months will vanish from memory, but for the timebeing, it makes me wonder.

What's long bothered me about the Fisk homerun is that it's the enduring image from that World Series - a World Series the Red Sox lost the next day. It's a great moment in and of itself, but it should be overshadowed by the fact that the Red Sox lost the World Series. I think much of the "greatness" of that homerun had been hyped by Red Sox fans starving to latch on to a great moment for a franchise that couldn't capture victory in over eight decades. But, with Boston having won twice in the last decade, one would think that memories from actual triumphs would now overshadow the Fisk homerun. In particular, the comebacks against the Yankees in games 4 and 5 of the 2004 ALCS should be at the top for many reasons.

Eh, I don't know. On paper there looks to be good veteran depth, but is it really reliable depth? Eric Chavez has missed significant time with injuries each of the last six seasons and hasn't exceeded 200 plate appearances since 2007. He's a good bet to wind up on the DL again for a good stretch. Raul Ibanez is 40 years old and is coming off a season where his OBP was a woeful .289 and wasn't able to hit a lick outside the very friendly confines of Citizens Bank Ballpark. Eduardo Nunez's defense is questionable and I'm not sure his offensive upside is as great as others believe. Fransisco Cervelli seems to be just a placeholder for Austin Romine at this point. Really, Andruw Jones is the most reliable of the group and would seem to fit his role quite well, but even he's been up and down the last five years.

Jeff, you left a few very important tidbits out from the other side of the coin. For starters, the fact that Ibanez had just a .307 OBP against righties and a ridiculously bad .289 overall, which means that Ibanez was one of the biggest out machines in the league. Next, while Ibanez did hit 20 homeruns last year (and putting aside that he was really an all but mostly nothing hitter), all but just 5 of the homeruns were in the very friendly confines of Citizens Bank Park (aka the modern Baker Bowl). Away from home last year Ibanez hit just. 210 and posted just a .577 OPS. He was also quite mediocre away from home in 2010 (.707 OPS). Throw in the fact that he's 40, there's much to suggest that Ibanez doesn't offer much at ths point. I'd go so far to say that he's a downgrade fro Posada. Once Posada accepted his diminished role, he hit much closer to his career rates over the last 4 months of the season and playoffs, plus he switch hits. Granted, Ibanez can pay defense, but how often is he expected to be playing defense anyway given that Andruw Jones is already on the roster.

mick, a Hughes + Swisher or Gardner package for Seth Smith would be a terrible deal. Smith will turn 30 next season and hasn't shown that much with just a 110 OPS+, particularly considering his home park is Coors Field. I wouldn't even trade Swisher or Gardner straight up for Smith as I believe he'd be a downgrade from both (older than Gardner and without Gardner's speed, OBP, and great OF range; is not nearly close to the hitter Swisher is and probably isn't as good defensively either).

Smith would make a nice 4th OFer, but the Yankees look to already have that with Jones.

Just for the record, I think I may have been the first to on this blog to raise a potential Posada return to help fill the new DH void. It's highly unlikely that it will happen, but Posada's numbers were around his career norms after that game in late May when he took himself out of the lineup. I think he had a real problem accepting his new role and it impacted his play, but after the May episode he came to some level of acceptance and was better focused. If Posada does return, it would obviously come with an understanding that he would just be a role player. Given his play from June on last year, I'd probably rather him return as a bench player than say Matsui or Damon. Plus, posada could spell teixeira at 1b. Lastly the fact that posada hasn't made his anticipated retirement announcement could be a sign that there are some discussions going on.

Apologies to those who find that their comments are not appearing. I share your frustration because my comments are subject to the same filter. I find the best thing to do to avoid the filter is to try to keep to two paragraphs or three fairly brief paragraphs, and do not have any links. Otherwise, you'll have to wait until Steve and I check the spam folder to "approve" your comment. If you find any comment has been withheld, just make another comment noting that and one of us we'll "approve" it when we can.

Not sure yet how I feel about this trade as I was looking forward to seeing Montero develop and perhaps add some needed youthful enthusiasm to the club. I also like Noesi's upside and believe he could be better than Nova in the long-term. That being said, Pineda is a stud. He struggled a bit in the second half last year, but his whip was still very impressive and he has to be considered one of the most promising young pitchers in the game. That's what makes this deal so intriguing. We are used to seeing the Yankees trade young talent for over hyped and over paid veterans, but this time they brought back legitimate young.

With the signing of the steady Kuroda, there is a jam in the rotation, and as Steve notes this could be signaling that Burnett's time with the team is short and that Hughes may be destined for the pen. On the flip side this frees up tons of abs at DH and a roster spot. The team could go out and a sign a veteran to play part time at DH, perhaps even someone like Matsui (or maybe even Posada gets another chance), but I think this could be the starr of transitioning Rodriguez to DH to try to keep him healthier with Nunez and perhaps even Brandon Laird to get some time t 3b.

mick, again, you want to ban Ryan Braun but how do you know he did anything worse than Andy Petttitte, a person you forgive? Pettitte didn't have a physician's prescription - he took an illegal substance and then went on to have an inordinately productive season that's completely out of whack with the rest of his career. You've created a double standard - Player A should be banned forever, but Player B should get a pass because he played for my team and I like him. It shouldn't work that way.